Toulouse was one of the larger cities we visited during our journey through south-western France, and we approached it by motorhome with a fairly practical plan. We stayed at the free parking area beside the Cité de l’Espace, arriving at around 6 pm. At that time it was not particularly busy, so despite travelling with our 23-foot-long motorhome we had no difficulty finding a space. The parking area was large enough for us and, although our position was slightly sloping, that was not a problem during our stay. The fact that it was free was obviously convenient, especially for a short stop while visiting Toulouse.
Our impression of the parking area itself was rather mixed, however. The location is useful, particularly because it is immediately beside the Cité de l’Espace and public transport can be used to reach the city centre, but the area was very dirty and poorly maintained when we were there. It was also noisy because of the busy road alongside it, and although we had no actual problems, we did not feel completely safe there. These points are worth mentioning because the practical advantages of the location do not necessarily mean that it is an especially pleasant place to spend time. For us, it worked primarily because we could arrive in the evening, find a space easily and use it as a base for Toulouse.
Toulouse itself is a very different experience. Known as the “Ville Rose”, the Pink City, it takes its name from the extensive use of brick in its historic buildings. The colour changes considerably depending on the light, from pale pink to much warmer orange tones, and this gives the historic centre a distinctive appearance. The city has more than two thousand years of history: the settlement was already an important centre in Roman times, when Tolosa became a prosperous Roman colony in 106 BC, benefiting from trade between the Mediterranean and the Iberian Peninsula.
The historic centre developed considerably during the Middle Ages, when Toulouse became the capital of the Counts of Toulouse and later an important centre of political and religious power. One of the most visible reminders of that period is the Capitole, whose origins go back to the medieval Capitouls, the city’s municipal authorities. The present building developed over several centuries and today dominates the enormous Place du Capitole, one of the best-known spaces in the city. The building still serves as Toulouse’s town hall and also contains the Théâtre du Capitole.
Another major landmark is the Basilica of Saint-Sernin. Construction of the present Romanesque building began in the eleventh century around the cult of Saint Saturnin, the first bishop of Toulouse, who was martyred in the third century. Its position on the Way of Saint James made Toulouse an important pilgrimage centre, and the basilica was designed on a considerable scale to accommodate pilgrims. Today Saint-Sernin remains one of the most important Romanesque buildings in France and is part of the UNESCO-listed Routes of Santiago de Compostela in France.
Toulouse also has an important connection with the River Garonne and the Canal du Midi. The canal was designed by Pierre-Paul Riquet in the seventeenth century to connect Toulouse with the Mediterranean, and it was inaugurated in 1681. It became an important route for transporting goods and remains one of the defining elements of the city’s landscape. Walking along the waterways gives a completely different impression of Toulouse from the busy streets around the central monuments.
There is another side to Toulouse that makes the city particularly distinctive: its relationship with aviation and space. Toulouse became one of Europe’s major centres of aeronautical development, and today this heritage can be seen alongside attractions dedicated to space exploration. The Cité de l’Espace, directly beside the parking area where we stayed, covers more than 4,000 square metres of exhibitions and four hectares of gardens, with full-size objects including an Ariane 5 rocket, the Mir space station, an Apollo lunar module and an Orion spacecraft.
For us, Toulouse was therefore a combination of a large historic city and a very practical motorhome stop. The parking area was far from perfect, particularly because of the dirt, poor maintenance, road noise and the fact that we did not feel completely comfortable there. At the same time, we had no difficulty finding a place for our relatively long motorhome, we paid nothing and the location beside the Cité de l’Espace was convenient. Once in Toulouse itself, the character of the city changed completely: the historic centre, the pink-brick buildings, the Capitole, Saint-Sernin, the Garonne and the city’s aerospace heritage showed how many different periods of history have shaped this part of France.
Toulouse therefore left us with two quite different impressions. The place where we parked was functional rather than attractive, and our own experience there was not entirely positive, but it gave us a straightforward way of reaching and experiencing a city with an unusually broad identity, stretching from Roman Tolosa and the medieval Counts of Toulouse to the Canal du Midi and the modern European aerospace industry.